Render Unto the Wastes
by NewCanaanite
Summary: The main character is an ex-Centurion who leaves the legion after the death of Caesar. He and his men are run out of Arizona and try to start over in Texas where he meets a woman who changes his life forever. Note: This is just the character intro and my first attempted fanfic. I will add more and make it a full story as I get feedback. Please be gentle. (Tons of research involved)


Render Unto the Wastes

Prologue

It's been over 205 years since the bombs fell and almost two years since the Courier killed Caesar and helped Mr. House keep the New Vegas Strip independent. This news travelled fast and even reached as far out as Arizona. While the NCR recovered from this almost immediately and quickly made a deal with Mr. House. Caesar's Legion, now known only as The Legion, on the other hand went into a rapid state of decay. Several veteran Legionaries left The Legion and went on to re-form old nearly forgotten tribes. Within a year, after constant in fighting and suffering several attacks from new tribes, the only territory that remained under The Legions control was Arizona. But even after losing nearly everything a new leader calling himself Pompey has emerged and reorganized The Legion. His vow, "To restore The Legion to its former glory!" and to "Form an empire that with stand the test of time!"

Chapter 1: We All Come From Somewhere

2281-2283

"We all come from somewhere James. That's what makes us who we are. We can't change our past, but we can change our future." I hear her voice echo in my mind every time I'm faced with a major decision these days. She was the first one to believe in me. Hell the first one to forgive me. But I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is James Numerius Quinctius Rullianus. I was one of the youngest Centurion's in Caesar's Legion at the age of 22 and was a Centurion for only a year before his death. After his death and the defeat at Hoover Dam I left the Legion. I along with several of my men returned to the ways of our ancestors and became Blackfoot tribals once more. However, our former brothers from The Legion did not let us live in peace. They tracked us down, ran us out of Arizona, and slaughtered most of us on our way into Texas.

I decided that the best way for us to survive was to split up so that The Legion couldn't track us all down at once and to adopt variations of our names so that the locals would be more accepting of us. After the things we had done if people knew who we were they'd never let us live among them and would finish us off before The Legion ever could. So I shortened my name to James Rule and moved to a small town called Dangerfield. It had a population of around twenty to thirty people and even though it was constantly plagued by something, be it raiders, geckos, deathclaws, or unfriendly tribals, it was the best town around for miles. But more importantly that's where I met Maria. She had cream colored skin, brown hair, bright green eyes, and about 5' 5" tall with an athletic, but curvy figure. She was gorgeous. She was a New Canaanite missionary and she came to me shortly after I arrived in Dangerfield. She kept trying to tell me about God and how he helps and forgives people. She was so annoying and after a few days of her constant preaching I snapped at her. I yelled at her and asked her what she knew about needing help and forgiveness. That's when she told me about losing her entire family to Caesar's Legion. How she watched in horror as Legion Recruits slit her father's throat and how her mother sacrificed her life to give her a chance to escape. And even after that the Recruits still caught her. She said she only managed to escape by clawing one Recruits eyes out and by ripping out the other's throat with her teeth.

I was baffled by this woman. She made me regret not only my words, but also my entire life. I begged for her forgiveness and for the first time since I was a child I cried. She asked me why I was crying and all I could say was I was sorry. She gently grasped my hand, looked me in eyes, smiled, and said, "Don't cry it's not your fault." And a piece of me died at that exact moment. I had never realized how my actions had affected others. I had always thought that everything I did for Caesar was to make the world a better place. I didn't have the heart to tell her that after Joshua Graham was tossed into the Grand Canyon that Caesar had delegated certain forces to hunt and kill all New Canaanites for heresy. And that I was the Decanus who led a group of Legionaries to hunt and kill missionaries. The same Decanus who returned to his camp telling stories of a crazy girl who had killed two Recruits with her bare hands. It was then and there I swore to myself that I would protect that woman. That, since I had taken her life from her, I would give her mine.

From then on I listened to every story she told about her life, about her God, and about the future she dreamed of. How she wanted to start a brahmin ranch and a small church as well as how she wanted to get married and have children. But for now she wanted to help rebuild this town and give the people in it hope. So, for her, I became the unofficial sheriff of the settlement that once existed due to nothing more than mans stubborn will to be there. My skills were tested time and time again.

After just a week or so of becoming the "sheriff" the town was paid a visit by some raiders. I had seen their kind several times before. Men and women so desperate to live that they'd do anything. They must had found a weapons cache or and old armory somewhere because they were three wielding mini-guns and eight using assault rifles. Their big disadvantage was that they were inexperienced and lacked any form of organization other than the one with the biggest guns lead. It made the Centurion in me sick and I wanted nothing more than to crucify each and every one of them, but Maria asked me to try and reason with them so I tried. My words were met with gunshots and then the time for talk was over. I drew my marksman carbine and fired three times, each shot a kill. I dropped the three with the mini-guns first to insure that collateral damage would be kept at a minimum. Plus I didn't want to die because some raider with a mini-gun got lucky with his spray and pray. Then, I turned and fired seven more shots, and again each shot a kill. It made me sick how easy they were to kill, but pride comes before the fall. As I turned realizing that there was still one left, I saw him he had me dead to rights. He was no more than ten meters from me and he had me right in his sights. I had been complacent and over confident. He had been moving in close this entire time and I hadn't once seen him. I knew this was the end of me. I began to laugh and closed my eyes as his finger squeezed the trigger. Then, "Bang!" I opened my eyes to see half of the raiders head completely gone. I looked to where the sound came from and there my guardian angel stood on the roof of the town hall, the perfect snipers nest. Nestled right in the middle of town and also the tallest building you could see down every street from up there. I had to look closer at my savior and as I squinted I could see Maria holding a still smoking hunting rifle. I meet her on the porch of the Town hall and asked her why the sudden change of heart about killing. She looked at me smiled and said, "To everything there is a season. Plus someone had to save your life." I knew that she was right so I thanked her for helping me and after that I never got complacent again.

Then, after nearly a year in Dangerfield I found myself in love with her and her in love with me. I had protected her and her dreams because I felt like I owed her, but she didn't know that. And because she didn't know that she had fallen in love with the man who had basically killed her family. So, one day I asked her to my shack, sat her down, gently grasped her hand as she had done mine nearly a year ago, looked her in the eyes, and said, "I love you, but there's something about me you don't know." She was smiling as she asked me what it was and then I told her who I really was, what I had done in the past, and that I was the reason he parents were dead. She laughed to start with insisting that this was a very sick joke but then, realizing I was serious, she began to cry. I told her I would leave if she wanted and that I really had come to love her, but she still just cried. As I turned to leave she grabbed my hand. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and told me something that I'd never forget. She said, "We all come from somewhere James. That's what makes us who we are. We can't change our past, but we can change our future."


End file.
